In your opinion..

BengaLover

Do you prefer to use the eyepiece viewfinder or screen on your camera - and why. Is it a personal preference or do your images benefit from using one or the other..

AnCatDubh

Optical Viewfinder. I have live view available but for me it's use is only on occasions when I can't get the viewfinder to my eye. The viewfinder feels more natural for everything else. Perhaps our generation are just programmed to operate like that while the current up and coming teenagers who will eventually pick up cameras will have an expectation for their camera to work like their phone and view on a largish screen.

Oh, it also makes you *look* far more like a pro and is better for picking up chicks unless you happen to be a chick :-/ (that last bit strictly speaking may not be true)

sepd123

Optical for me to.
there is a look like a pro aspect to it to i supose but i just dont like the live view. live view very handy for focusing in low light though.
but putting it up to your eye also helps you keep the camera steady.
your shots would be very shaky holding it a arms lenght away from you with a dslr anyway
i have a fuji bridge camera not sure the model but it has a horrible electronic view finder but i still use it over the lcd.

Rainbowsend

Has to be the viewfinder, cameras are made to be stuck
to your face

ThOnda

Optical viewfinder. Learned to shoot that way with film camera, 5D doesn't have live view and when you don't hold your camera steadily with elbows tucked to your body, you are introducing camera shake.
And unless you are shooting in awkward position, you look like a tourist when stretching your hands with camera.

dirtyghettokid

Rainbowsend wrote: »

Has to be the viewfinder, cameras are made to be stuck
to your face

same. though, i feel like an idiot if i take someone else's P&S and stick it to my face before realising i'm looking in the wrong place LOL

mehfesto

Viewfinder here too, but only because I didn't know my camera had a live view mode until I checked it a moment ago! That said, I can see the benefits of LV - especially those that have a built in digital spirit level!

nilhg

Optical at all times when the camera is in my hands, when it's on a tripod I'll quite often use liveview, my camera has an articulated screen which makes it very comfortable to use when I'm trying for an alternative point of view.

CabanSail

I use the Viewfinder on DSLR's all the time. It maybe coming from film it just feels natural.

When I pick up a compact I find that I tend to use the LCD more.

Pete67

Optical viewfinder for me. Started with 35mm SLRs and just used to it I suppose. Also I've never seen a screen that looks even half as good as a nice bright viewfinder.

Heebie

Definitely another optical viewfinder vote here. I hate my point & shoot because it doesn't have one.. although it takes good shots for a P&S.
I actually switched off the live preview on my dSLR's in favor of having depth-of-field preview.. and I do wish I had a focusing mesh in the viewfinder on my digital! My 35mm has that, and I really do miss it.

5uspect

Optical viewfinder here too. It's simply a more stable way to hold the camera. Also I would imagine using live view a lot would heat up the sensor and add noise.

I'm lucky enough to have a digital spirit level and grids built into my viewfinder which are great.

The penta-mirror viewfinders you get in Rebels and similar are small and dark compared to bigger cameras but I would still avoid live view.

DaireQuinlan

I think there's something almost soul destroying about digital viewfinders, either rear screens or EVFs. You're not looking at the scene anymore, you're looking at a digital facsimile of it. You may as well just be sitting down somewhere and watching it on TV or something. All the life and immediacy is sucked out of it.

Gregor Samsa

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

I think there's something almost soul destroying about digital viewfinders, either rear screens or EVFs. You're not looking at the scene anymore, you're looking at a digital facsimile of it. You may as well just be sitting down somewhere and watching it on TV or something. All the life and immediacy is sucked out of it.

Personally, I have to disagree here. I have a Sony A77 with an EVF - a feature i was unsure about when I upgraded to the camera - and after using it, I wouldn't go back to an OVF (I've been using an OVF SLR since I inherited a Pentax ME Super in 1991). Sure, it feels different (and does have disadvantages), but it never feels like looking at a TV screen, or in any way removed from the scene you're shooting. And you have the advantage of being able to use exposure preview, information overlay, digital level, histogram, and focus peaking right there in the eyepiece. Plus, in really dark situations, you can up the gain and see (a bit of) what your eyes can't. But I can totally understand it being a personal preference, so OVF's aren't going to go away any time soon.

To answer the OP's question, I often find myself using both, and am just as happy with each for particular uses. For portraits of any kind, I much prefer the viewfinder - I feel more connected to the person I'm shooting when I see them framed in the viewfinder. But the innovation of the articulated LCD just lets you frame shots that would be impossible if you had to have your eye stuck to the back of the camera. So I'm constantly switching between both. Another factor i find that influences which I use is what lens I have mounted. I wouldn't usually use the rear screen LCD with my 70-400 mounted - the balance just wouldn't feel right. But with a small prime (28 or 50mm), I could go either way. On a tripod, I almost always use the rear LCD. (It should be remembered that Sony's implementation allows for full phase-detect auto focus with live view, so using live view doesn't limit the features of the camera in any way).

Edit: by the way, if you're using a rear LCD at arm's length, you're doing it wrong. Basically, with a DSLR, you hold it in almost the same way as you would up to your eye, just a few inches from your face. Here's an image from Sony's A77 manual:



It is inherently a little less stable, because you don't have the camera braced against your face, but it's not like your arms are flailing all around in this position, and at most shutter speeds, and with most lenses, you won't notice any shake.

BengaLover

Ive been practicing with the optical, I didnt like the automated feature on the Sony, whereby when you put it up to your eye the LCD screen automatically turned off, so I switched that feature off. The plus side to the optical is defintely the level/balance view, so you can get straight pics, saves on battery life, but does make you squint a bit...

ThOnda

Just get to try optical viewfinder on full-frame DSLR or film SLR, then on TLR and then on Hasselblad or Mamyia. You'll understand immediately.
Keep on practicing also gentle pressing of the trigger, shoot and post some results.

Viewfinder for me. I love it and think it's much better than the LCD (though the LCD does serve a purpose).

I can't trigger wireless flash via the LCD, so that kills it for me straight away (7D).